It could be because your mom isn't quite sure what an iPad looks like.

Clay Lawson's mom, you see, appears to think it looks very much like any other piece of cardboard. Which is why she tossed what she thought was just a stack of cardboard boxes into the fire pit at their Nelson County, Va. home.

The iPad was on the top.

Clay was, understandably, on the perturbed side when he discovered this fiery end to his magical machine. Still, he went to his regular busboy job at the Cavalier Diner in Charlottesville.

As WVIR-TV reports, one of the servers there, Donna Drumheller, is a friend of the Lawson family.

In a quiet moment, she told some of the other staff about Clay's tragic mishap.

What happened next defies credulity, but confirms the possibility of (occasional) human goodness.